Lovely Ashes
by Tanzettigirl
Summary: Billy receives a distress call that Earth is under attack. He returns to the Command Center looking for his friends but finds a broken world and a woman he never truly knew. Inspired by "The Sweetest Thing" by Panache
1. Landing

**Disclaimer/Acknowledgments: I don't own Power Rangers (obviously) or any characters (even more obvious)**

** The inspiration for this story comes from Panache's Five Girls Billy Never Kissed story #5 The Sweetest Thing. If you have not read this story I highly suggest it. The link is in both my author and story favorites if you'd like to see it. **

**Notes: Five Girls Billy Never Kissed was one of the first PR fanfics I ever read. I loved every chapter of it, but the one that affected me most was definitely the last one. Not only was the Billy/Aisha concept incredibly unique and exciting, it was deep and physiological. What I loved most of all was that these two characters would have to go through so much shit in order to get to the point where they could have a relationship. And of course the ultimate question of "Are they really in love?" **

** I mean this story as a tribute to the original. It is a jumping off point, and will largely follow the structure of the original story, but is not intended to be a direct retelling or recreation. I mean this solely as an interpretation on a theme. **

** As always, all critiques, criticisms and other forms of review are welcome. **

**So without further ado: On with the story!**

*****

It took three passes over the mountain range to find the Command Center. He spotted in on the second pass, little more than a black crater between the sandy rocks. There were no signals, no signs, life electronic or otherwise to indicate he would find them here. He landed over the nearest flat and said a prayer before cutting the engine.

The sun was setting over the mountains when Billy finally entered the building that had once been his second home. For four years he'd given his life to this place and to the people inside. He'd known every bolt and strut, every wire and diode by heart. He'd designed and built much of it himself. He'd seen it destroyed and rebuilt once already and it almost killed him then. Now, as he entered the structure that held his fondest memories of his adolescence, he could feel his heart breaking all over again.

_Please God don't let it be too late_.

The message had arrived on Aquitar only days ago, but the timestamp was over six months old. It had been from Tommy, but it hadn't been sent from the Command Center, it had been sent from somewhere outside the solar system.

The message had been short. Simple and straight forward, the way Tommy always handled things.

"A new alien force is attacking Earth," he'd said. "The new Rangers are overwhelmed. We don't have enough power to overcome their weapons, we need help.

"Please come, Billy. I don't know how long we have, but if anyone can help it's you. Please come, my friend. We need you."

There had been a look in Tommy's eyes Billy had never seen before. Fear, fear beyond anything he'd faced before. So Billy had come.

_Please, God don't let it be too late_.

"Zordon? Alpha?"

He called the names softly at first with a cautious reverence of entering a temple or holy place.

When no one answered, he repeated them louder each time. He kept calling, long past the point when he logically knew he wouldn't get an answer. He kept calling, kept shouting because he knew once he stopped he'd never be able to say it again.

"Zordon! Alpha! Tommy! Kat! Rocky! Adam! Tanya!"

He called all their names in succession, chanting them like a mantra, calling their very spirits to his aid. He screamed their names until his voice was gone and he'd collapsed on the soot-covered floor. He screamed until the tears came and his body gave out. Until the shaking started and the grief surrounded him so close he was sure it would crush him to nothing and he'd die with them.

Still he said the names. Whispers in the silence between the sobs and spasms. Over and over until they were burned into the walls and floors and he could neither say, nor think anything else and he could almost believe he'd called their spirits back from the dead.

Or maybe his just went to join them.


	2. Too Late

**Disclaimer/Acknowledgments: I don't own Power Rangers (obviously) or any characters (even more obvious)**

** This story was inspired by Panache's Five Girls Billy Never Kissed story #5 The Sweetest Thing. If you have not read this story I highly suggest it. **

*****

It was night by the time he found the strength to stand. The cold winds from the desert penetrated the broken walls of the fortress and he was forced to scavenge for fuel to build a fire.

He only had basic supplies in the ship. He'd packed quickly and not knowing what to take he had only basic survival gear. He'd expected to at least find the Command Center standing, much less food and electricity. The small ship he brought was little more than a one man fighter that he'd loaded quickly and taken off with right away. Cestro had offered more but it would have taken time and Billy didn't want to wait. The Aquitian Rangers had offered to join him as well, but again, Billy didn't want to wait for them. The ship had a long range transmitter and he'd promised to call if he needed help.

After scavenging the desert for firewood and dragging it back in the dark he unloaded the small survival kit he'd brought with him. There was a firestarter as well as some water and ration bars. It wouldn't last more than a day or two. He slept under the archway that used to be the entrance to the lower chamber wrapped in a thin thermal blanket, a small fire burning a few feet away with barely enough heat to keep him from shivering.

He woke just after sunrise and made a meager breakfast of more ration bars and water. He packed a bag with water and a handful of said bars and a small tool kit. It was about an hour walk from the Command Center to the Angel Grove city limits. He didn't dare take the ship. There was a limited amount of spare food and it would barely be enough to get him back to Aquitar. He'd seen the city as he flew over it the day before. Downtown was almost completely gone, what used to be rows of office buildings were charred ruins of ash and rubble. Had the Command Center been standing, or even a good part of the city, he wouldn't have hesitated, but things being as they were there was no guarantee he'd find suitable fuel.

He hit the warehouse district first, it was barely recognizable without the tall buildings and smokestacks that defined it. He stopped near what he was pretty sure was the center of downtown just as the sun was peaking over the eastern sky. It would be a long hot walk back and he was actually wondering if he could get one of these half smashed cars parked randomly over the street to work and drive him back home.

He stopped under a large building that from the sign buried in the street out front was once Angel Grove First National Bank. He ate two ration bars and emptied half a bottle of water before moving on. He had taken a few minutes to write down a short list of things he needed before leaving this morning. Food, water, and clothing were at the top of that list. If he remembered correctly the Angel Grove Mall was only a few blocks to the south. That seemed like the best place to start.

He set off across the street and noticed what looked like a newer construction building at the end of the block. It was tall and made of flat steel that had no windows cut into it. It was a strange structure so Billy headed in that direction as he walked. As he got to the end of the block more of the structure became visible around the corner and when he was fully to it he stopped dead in his tracks. A long track of steel, segmented into octagonal sections that got smaller and smaller and finally ended in a sharp point laid across the road.

It was a tail. A tail to a Zord.

Billy broke into a dead run, jumping the barbed end of the tail and racing around to the head. He stopped again only when he came face to face with the black and silver head, red eyes gone dark with death.

The Dragon Zord.

The head was completely severed from the body and lay upright on the asphalt road a few feet away. Billy was shocked that Tommy had resurrected his old Zord. He couldn't begin to think how he'd done that. The Zord's power was lost with the original Green Ranger, or so Billy had always thought. Tommy must have been desperate to bring back a dead Zord in battle.

Billy felt a twinge in his chest at what his friend must have gone through. It might have been the last thing Tommy had ever done.

That thought more than anything else is what forced his feet to move again. He jogged around to the back of the body, where the cockpit should have been. He entered from where the head had been separated from the body, holding his breath as he peered through the ancient metal and wire.

It was empty. He let out his breath in disappointment. He turned away from the Zord and felt his knees give way as he hit the hot ground. Only then did his thoughts clear enough for him to realize just how close he'd just come to finding Tommy dead.

His stomach churned and he fell forward on his hands just in time to throw up his small lunch on the sidewalk. He was alone. There weren't even any bodies to find. They were all just gone.

He was too late.


	3. Intruder

**Disclaimer/Acknowledgments: I don't own Power Rangers (obviously) or any characters (even more obvious)**

** The concept of this story comes from Panache's Five Girls Billy Never Kissed story #5 The Sweetest Thing. If you have not read this story I highly suggest it. The link is in both my author and story favorites if you'd like to see it. **

*****

Billy made it back to the Command Center about an hour before sunset. He'd run into some luck and found an abandoned ATV near the mall that had a nearly full tank of gas. There wasn't much left of the mall itself. The main building was completely flattened, but a few of the larger department stores on the perimeter were still stable enough to enter. It was obvious they'd already been looted, but there were a few things he could make use of clothing-wise. He hit a drugstore on the way out of town that wasn't too damaged and took as many boxes of candy bars and cases of bottled water as he could fit on the back of the four-wheeler.

As he pulled into the Command Center he immediately felt an odd prickle in the back of his neck. Something was off. His ship still stood on the flat about a hundred yards away, and looked unmolested. He'd locked it down that morning before leaving so there was no way anyone could get into it, even if they did make it all the way out here and find it between the rocks.

As he came near the entrance to the Command Center he saw something that wasn't there before, a grey pickup truck. It was battered something awful was in need of a serious paint job and a back windshield. So he skipped unloading the cart and walked into the back entrance of the Center. He entered a short hallway that wound through the lower level of the Command Center and emptied out into the lower chamber that had been the base of operations during the time of the Zeo Rangers. He'd rigged the doorway to the main chamber to stay open because he wasn't sure how stable it was and didn't want to risk damaging his only entrance with the door movement. As he approached the door though, he began to think that had been a mistake. Before the main chamber was even visible he could hear them. There was an intruder in the Command Center.

Billy backed himself into the wall and took a breath. How did someone find him way out here? What could they possibly be looking for? Were they after him?

He shook those questions off for another time. Right now he needed to concentrate on how to get rid of them. He quietly reached into the bag strapped to his waist and pulled out the toolkit. He'd learned a long time ago from Jason and Tommy that in the right hands anything could be a weapon, even if it served only as a distraction. He pulled out the largest screwdriver he carried and gripped the handle firmly. The rest of the bag he slid off his shoulder and wrapped the handle around his hand a few times so he could have a good grip on it.

He'd kept up his martial arts practice somewhat over the years so he took a breath and focused on his training, preparing himself. Then, in one smooth motion maneuvered around the doorway and into the Command Center.

The intruder was standing at one of the kiosks closest to the door. Billy crossed the space between them in two strides just as the figure looked up. He swung the bag hard and hit the intruder across the face. The figure fell back against the computer and Billy went in fast bringing the screwdriver down hard for all it was worth.

It wasn't until he heard the screaming that he realized the intruder was female.

*****

She never saw it coming.

It was a stupid mistake. She knew better, had been trained better, but still she made it, and now she'd have to pay for it.

Her arm screamed in pain when he stabbed her and at first all she could see was blurred colors through the tears of pain. It took several breaths to focus enough to see her attackers face, and when she did it scared her more than anything she'd ever seen.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

Was it really him? Why didn't he recognize her?

"Billy, it's me," she panted through the pain. "It's Aisha. Billy, don't you remember me?"

His eyes were narrowed in rage and he twisted the screwdriver into her flesh harder and repeated his question as if he hadn't heard her.

It had taken nearly six months to make her way across the country. It hadn't been easy. Humanity was scattered, but not lost, there were hundreds of bands of thieves and refugees willing to slice you up over a bottle of water as soon as look at you. Traveling alone had been the worst. There was no one to help, no one to trust. There had been people with her in the beginning. She'd made it to Missouri before they turned on each other. It was only because she ran when she had the chance that she'd survived. And now she was here, a place she once belonged, and yet had never known.

She saw the ship when she first entered the Command Center. Her own vehicle, a broken down pickup truck, was parked behind the structure, out of view from the side the city was on. But the site of a spaceship, however small, had given her the first glimmer of hope she'd had in months. When she'd entered the Center itself and seen the small camp the person had made it had diminished that hope a bit, but it wasn't until she heard the footsteps behind her and turned to be met with a backpack to the face that her dreams of survival shattered completely.

"Who are you?" Billy demanded again. "How did you get here?"

"Billy, it's Aisha," she said again as strongly as she could, which wasn't very since the pain in her shoulder had her nearly paralyzed. "Billy, please! Remember me. It's Aisha. Billy…"

She was beginning to feel dizzy but kept repeating the words, calling his name and her own. Just when she thought she was about to pass out something flickered in his eyes and she felt the pressure in her shoulder change again.

"Don't move," he said. He braced a hand against her shoulder and she felt the screwdriver twist. She cried out in pain and he warned her again not to move. Slowly, painfully, he removed the shaft from her shoulder. The second it was free was like a plug being pulled from a bottle as the blood poured out from the wound. He took her unwounded arm and pressed her palm to the wound.

"Hold that as tight as you can," he said. "I'll be right back."

He stepped away to grab the backpack, the very one he'd hit her with, and dug into it. He pulled out a small red box, opened it, and assessed the contents.

"I don't have a lot of medical supplies," he said. "I'll have to go get something as soon as I slow the bleeding."

He pulled several large dressings out of the box as well as a large roll of tape. He worked quickly and she could tell he was trying to be gentle, but there was only so much pain he could prevent at this point. She didn't complain, didn't say another word, and simply did as he told her. If he asked her to move this way or that she did, when he said to hold down a dressing while he taped it she complied, and finally he stepped back from the computer and assessed her fully.

He didn't say anything for a long time, just looked her up and down. She started to wonder if he really recognized her. Something about his gaze was off, something that told her to be cautious.

"Aisha," he said finally.

"Billy," She replied smoothly.

He took a breath and nodded. "There's some water in the pack," he said. "You need to sit down and try and stay still. I have to get some supplies to stop the bleeding."

She nodded, and reached for the pack, pulling it to the floor with her as she sat down. "It's okay," she said. "I'll be alright."

He gave her one more scrutinizing look then nodded and ran from the room.

The second he was gone she leaned back against the kiosk and let the tears flow.

*****

**And now there's Aisha. Hope you enjoyed! Sorry this was so short, but the next chapter is really long and needed to stand alone. As always, reviews are welcome and the next chap will be up next Friday. Have a great 2010!!**

** Oh, on a personal note. I recently won first place in an original short story contest. There's details on my profile and the winning story should be posted online soon. Check my profile for details. **

** See ya next week!!!**


	4. Healing the Past Billy's Story

**Disclaimer/Acknowledgments: I don't own Power Rangers (obviously) or any characters (even more obvious)**

** The concept of this story comes from Panache's Five Girls Billy Never Kissed story #5 The Sweetest Thing. If you have not read this story I highly suggest it. The link is in both my author and story favorites if you'd like to see it. **

*****

When the cooling desert air hit Billy he came to a sudden stop. He was just outside the door of the Command Center. He looked at the bike he'd just acquired, but he knew there wasn't enough gas to get him to the town and back. He'd have to make a second stop, which would mean more time, not to mention picking through the debris of the town in the dark. He walked to the edge of the ridge and saw his ship sitting there. He didn't dare touch it. It was his last escape if things here went south.

The old pickup truck sat idly just under the ridge. Billy ran to it and climbed in. The keys were in the ignition, and he turned them. The old truck whined and groaned then shuttered and stalled. Billy cursed and turned the key again, and again, but it was no use. It wouldn't start. However the girl had gotten it here, it wasn't leaving now.

The girl. He tried to think of her name but his mind wouldn't say it. It just couldn't comprehend. All he could think about was all that blood, soaking her shirt and his. His hands were still splotched with the dark red liquid he hadn't been able to wipe off on his jeans the rusty metallic smell of it detectable in the closed space. Whoever she was, she needed help now.

He took the ship.

Billy rushed through the debris-littered hallways of the hospital, with one goal in mind. He needed to find a supply cabinet. He opened every door he came to on the lower level. Everything was in tatters. Like the mall, it had obviously been looted previously. He began to wonder if there were survivors in town yet but pushed the thoughts aside and kept searching.

On the fifth hallway he finally found success. There wasn't much left, and what was there had been scattered across the broken shelves and floor haphazardly. He dug through the mess, reading each label quickly before disregarding it, or setting it in a pile on the side. He found a small plastic box under a shelf and set it aside to put the supplies in as he worked.

He didn't know medicine very well but he recognized most of the names he came across. Morphine, oxycodone, fentanyl, neomycin, azithromycin. He was grateful he'd taken time to learn some of the major antibiotic names back when he'd been a Ranger. Biology was a science he had little interest in, but had wisely taken the time to explore nonetheless. He was never more grateful for his natural curiosity than he was now.

Of course, he probably never would have learned as much as he did if it hadn't been for Cestria. A tight smile crossed his face at that memory. It had been years since he'd seen her but he still thought of their time together fondly. They'd been great for awhile, a serious power couple on Aquitar. He was practically running the R&D department of Cestro's technology firm and she was on her way to being Chief of Surgery at one of Aquitar's top hospitals.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to last. They'd been together four years, were even talking about getting married, but then it happened. Cestria got an offer to run a medical department at a university in the southern hemisphere of Aquitar and they had to make a decision. If one of them was willing to give up their opportunity to support the other. It was too good an opportunity for Cestria to pass up, the problem had come when Billy realized that his place with Cestro's company had become his home. He would have had to start over if he moved. It was a tough decision, but Cestria was the one who finally made it.

"It shouldn't hurt you this much to leave," she'd said. "You shouldn't have to think twice about following me. You didn't last time, maybe this time is different for a reason"

She'd had a point of course. He'd left his planet, crossed the galaxy with barely a second thought, but four years later the thought of moving a few thousand miles tore his heart out. It had hurt a lot to see her leave, but in his heart, he knew she was right. That time he wasn't meant to follow her.

Finally, Billy had filled the little box with as many things as he could find. He had painkillers and antibiotics, as well as a few bags of saline solutions and an IV kit. He didn't find anything that would sew up the wound though.

Cradling the box in his arms he raced the hallway again, this time with a clear goal in mind. He should have thought of it first, but his mind was racing too fast to think clearly. After several wrong turns he finally found what he was looking for. The hallway opened up to a large room that was sectioned off with curtains. The beds were still there, the thin plastic mattresses and sterile white sheets gone, stolen long ago by survivors. It was stone silent and there were no windows to let in the dying light outside. There was something stoic about the room, it reminded him of a cathedral. A quiet place of immense power and mystery. He shined the flashlight over each bed in turn until he found the back room where the supplies were stored. The lock on the door was broken and the room looked much like the other supply closet, but, just as he'd hoped, a large amount of supplies were untouched. He dug through the shelves and quickly found what he was looking for. Suture kits and emergency surgical supplies. These weren't the first things people would think to take since so few people knew how to use them properly. He loaded several into a second box and stacked it on top of the first then carried it out.

It took several minutes to navigate his way back through the hallways. He tried to commit the path to memory, thinking it would be worth the time to come back when he could take his time, pick through the remains with much more precision. But for now he knew it wouldn't help. He had to get back to her.

Aisha. The name rang in his head like a churchbell. He knew the name. He remembered her. But the Aisha in his memory bore very little resemblance to the woman he left bleeding on the Command Center floor.

He knew that technically he shouldn't know her anyway. Aisha had changed the timeline when she'd gone on the quest for her Zeo crystal. For all intents and purposes, she had never met him, never been a Ranger. And yet he did remember her, that her, the one that had fought alongside him for two years before leaving to pursue another life.

He shook these thoughts from his head as well as he exited the hospital through the main entrance. It didn't matter at the moment who she was, she was injured because of him and he had to fix that. He'd figure out the rest later.

The sunlight was nearly gone when he came through the broken glass doors onto the street. He heard the clanging before he saw them. They weren't making much effort to keep the noise down.

There were four of them, all boys, barely older than teenagers, surround the entrance to his ship.

"Hey!" he called at them and all four heads bobbed up to see him. One of them cursed and they all jumped off the ramp and scattered. Billy ran for the ship, still clutching the medical supplies, but they were gone by the time he reached them, vanished into the night and destruction.

He supposed that answered his question about survivors still living in the city.

When he reached the ship he quickly assessed the damage. There hadn't been much for them to take. He'd unloaded all the food and gear he'd brought the night before. But when he climbed into the pilot seat his heart skipped a beat. The control panel was in tatters. They'd removed the long-range transmitter. It was completely gone, and from the mass of broken wires left behind he could tell it would be completely useless to them anyway.

"Dammit," he whispered as it sunk in. It was the only way he had to contact Aquitar. Now he was not only out of fuel, but his last means of contact for help was gone. He was stranded.

He wasn't sure how long it took for the shock to wear off, but by the time he fired the engine up it was full dark. He returned to the Command Center minutes later to find Aisha still resting against the computer panel where he'd left her, the pressure dressings he'd made soaked in blood.

He knelt down next to her and began work immediately; tearing open the suture kits and pulling out some syringes to inject the painkillers she'd need to get through the procedure.

"Did you find what you needed?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," he said flatly. "I have everything."


	5. Surviving the Times Aisha's Story

**Disclaimer/Acknowledgments: I don't own Power Rangers (obviously) or any characters (even more obvious)**

** The inspiration of this story comes from Panache's Five Girls Billy Never Kissed story #5 The Sweetest Thing. If you have not read this story I highly suggest it. The link is in both my author and story favorites if you'd like to see it. **

*****

Aisha woke to find the sun shining in her face. She was on the floor, wrapped in a blanket. Her head was propped up on something that was relatively soft. She shifted position and her left arm screamed in pain. Her voice cried out before she could stop herself and a pressure suddenly pushed her back onto her makeshift bed.

"Don't move too much," A voice said above her. "You need to rest a few days at least."

"I feel like I've been laid out for a week already," she groaned. The pressure of Billy's hands disappeared and she looked over to see him working over something on the floor in front of him. When he raised a small vial of clear liquid up and pushed a syringe into the bottom of it she heard herself groan.

"Do you want to be in pain or not?" he said stiffly.

She groaned again. "Fine."

She felt the cool of the sterile wipe on her arm, and then the sting of the needle sliding in. She had to hand one thing to Billy, he was efficient. The needle was in and out in seconds and within a minute the waves of pain were washing away with the narcotics.

He'd patched her up easily enough last night. She had no idea he'd had so much skill with medicine. He said Cestria had taught him. Then of course he'd had to explain who Cestria was. It wasn't a bad thing though, the story filled the silence of the night well until he was nearly done with his work. He finished his story of life on the ocean planet with Tommy's message.

That of course, lead to the inevitable question about how she'd gotten there. She'd told him everything she could. Skipping most of her childhood and college years and starting with the school trip she'd taken with some of her students from the Nigerian University to New York City. They were there when the first bombs fell from the alien craft. The Astro Rangers had swooped in to fight, but been overwhelmed quickly. For weeks she'd lived in the tunnels of the New York subway routes with a large group of survivors. At first they planned to just wait it out, thinking that maybe the military, as well as the current inception of Power Rangers might defeat the attackers. But after three weeks supplies were low and tensions were high. They wandered the abandoned train rails, meeting other groups along the way and struggling to stay organized. But when they reached the 23rd Street station and joined with a new group of survivors her life changed.

There was a man in that group who claimed he'd been captured by the alien invaders. He'd been questioned for hours, subjected to tests and other odd implements. He recited a list of names, he couldn't remember them all, but Aisha did.

"They were our names," she told Billy. "Well, at least your names."

Tommy Oliver, Kimberly Hart, Jason Scott Lee, Trini Kwan, Billy Cranston, Rocky DeSantos, Adam Park, Katherine Hilliard, Tanya Sloan… All of the original Rangers, minus one.

She didn't know why her name wasn't on the list, and she kept quiet about recognizing the other names for fear that they might turn her in to the invaders. But she did come up with an alternative plan. They needed to get out of the city.

It took another week to convince enough people to leave with her, but eventually she found enough who were willing. They scavenged as much food as they could, stole a van and ran as fast as they could.

She didn't give a lot of details about the journey, just that it took six months, and there was only one goal in mind. One place where she knew she'd find help, if there was any to be had.

"You should try and eat something. I didn't bring enough saline to keep you hydrated for more than a few more hours," Billy said when she'd finished her tale. His voice was still stiff, flat and unemotional. She wondered how long it would take until he cracked and was amazed that it hadn't happened yet.

A nod was her only reply and he helped her sit up and lean against the wall. There wasn't much to eat, water and a few granola bars, but it was better than nothing. They ate breakfast in silence and when they were finished Billy spoke again.

"We don't have a lot of supplies. We'll need more bandages and maybe some antibiotics. Plus food and clothes. I can go into town. I have an ATV outside with some gas in it."

"You should take my truck," Aisha said. "It's out back. There's enough gas to get to town and back and you can carry more supplies."

"I tried the truck last night, it didn't start," Billy said.

"That's because the spark plugs are in my pocket," Aisha said. She looked up at him and managed what she hoped was a wiry grin. "Little habit I picked up to prevent thieves."

Billy didn't return her smile. "We should make a list."

He pulled a small pad of paper and a pencil out of his bag of tricks and for the next hour they constructed a list of supplies he should look for. When they couldn't think of anything more he checked her wound one more time, made sure everything she might need for the day was within reach, then with a stunted goodbye, he left.

*****

This was the routine for about a week. Every morning they had a simple breakfast and wrote up a list of supplies they still needed. Then Billy would check her wound with the clipped efficiency of the stranger he felt like.

After a week he still couldn't see it. He tried to hide it, but he just couldn't recognize the face he saw every day. Every morning he would get up and hope he'd see the face that was planted in his memory in the one he woke up to now. It wasn't there. She knew the facts, their history. Every evening over dinner they'd tell stories about the old days and so far she'd failed to miss a detail, even when he messed them up on purpose to test her, she always knew. And even then, when she corrected his memory and told the stories even more vividly than he remembered, he just couldn't see the Yellow Ranger he'd known in her face.

She recovered quickly. Within a day she was back on her feet, even though he was sure she shouldn't be up so soon. She insisted on being useful, and she was. Every day when he returned he found she'd come up with something new. She scavenged the building, finding anything useful. The first day he came home she had found the old infirmary and dragged half the equipment back to the main chamber for him to inspect. The second day she found a storage area that had water and rations that saved him a trip to the store the next day. Day five he came home to find her sorting through a large crate, at first he didn't recognize what was in it, but finally he did, backup power cells for the zeo-blasters he'd designed. He spent the next day at the Command Center with her fishing parts from the closet, while he redesigned a gun that would work with the cells.

She was smart, he had to give her that. Every time he ran into a problem she had a suggestion to fix it. It shocked him how much she knew about weaponry. His own skills were a bit rusty since he'd spent the last five years working on programming, not engineering, but she was sharp. She handled the weapon with a grace and skill he'd seen in few warriors, even his fellow Rangers. It made her even more of a stranger.

And it scared the hell out of him.

"We should get some regular weapons too," she said when he had finally assembled a working blaster. "You know where the old armory is?"

"I doubt we'll find anything there," he responded remembering the first night she arrived, when he'd lost his last hope of escape. "Most major spots have been looted already. There are still gangs around too."

"Who are probably armed already," was her reply. "All the more reason. What if you get shot out there? Who will I get my snickers bars from then?"

She smiled at the joke but he didn't find the humor in it. Worse, she was right. He'd had two more run-ins with gangs on his day trips. They tended to stay out of the way during the day, but they were still watching him. Twice they'd walked in on him while looting some store and he'd taken to using different pathways to get in and out of the city every day.

"Try some houses then," she said. "Right to bear arms was still an amendment; surely you'll find someone who felt the need to fulfill their civic duty."

"And then left it behind?"

"Or couldn't come back for it."

When he didn't answer she held out the new gun and put it in his hand. "Take it with you tomorrow."

Then she stood up walked over to the corner behind the kiosks, where the empty viewing globe sat. They'd turned the space into a makeshift kitchen. Aisha had pulled a few shelving units from the basement up there and they had assembled a crude pantry. She scanned the shelves and started pulling down cans for dinner. As she crossed the room she looked up at him for just a moment and smiled. She smiled as if nothing happened, as if he'd just come home from work and she were just making dinner, not like they'd spent the whole day assembling a weapon that would blow a hole the size of Texas through a human chest.

But when she passed by and flashed him that smile, that easy, innocent smile it was like something fused in his brain. Just for that one second, that one small smile and he saw it. Aisha. The old Aisha, the one who'd been his friend and teammate. She was still there, for one brief, beautiful second she was there and they weren't two strangers fighting for their lives in a world they couldn't trust. They were still teenagers with the power to change the world.

Then she looked away as she reached the fire and knelt down to make dinner, and it was gone. The next time she looked up at him he couldn't see her anymore. But he'd seen it once, and he knew he's see it again if he kept looking.

He tucked the gun safely away in the bag he always carried with tools and other things he needed on his supply runs then crossed the room to help her with dinner.

*****

** I originally wasn't going to add that last section, but the scene was so short, and I felt it really belonged. Hope you all liked Aisha's story. Looking forward to your reviews!!**


End file.
